looking far more bored than nervous.
"Yeah, they look really shaken," Jensen stated dryly.
"Shh," Sebastian hissed, giving him a look like he was the one who crazy.
What the h.e.l.l were these brothers seeing that he wasn"t? Jensen wondered. This was the biggest
dead-end he"d ever seen. And even if he could see what the brothers saw in these bikers, Jensen knew
they just needed to search. He knew deep in the pit of his stomach that Elizabeth was in real danger. He frowned at his own train of thought. How did he know that? After all, Elizabeth had a track record of running away. And he had just revealed how he"d failed Katie. Elizabeth knew he"d never told that to anyone but her. That was enough to get her panicked. She might have just run fromhim . Period.
He considered that for a moment, then shook his head. No. She was in trouble, and she needed him.
Now. "I"m just going to go look for her," Jensen said suddenly, standing. But Sebastian caught his shoulder, his grip tight.
"No. We don"t know where to look. There"s no point going without a plan."
Jensen gaped at him. "This is the plan?" Then he realized his voice was getting a little too loud. He lowered it to hiss, "Question random bikers?"
"Trust me. It"s a better plan than you know. And eventually, you will know why." Sebastian glanced at the wall behind the bar. Jensen followed his gaze and he realized that Sebastian was looking at a calendar. What the h.e.l.l was going on here?
Christian appeared, placing two beers on the bar in front of them.
"These guys are uncomfortable," he murmured.
"I know," Sebastian agreed.
Again Jensen looked over at the group. What the h.e.l.l were they seeing, because he just saw a group relaxing with their drinks.
This time, he couldn"t stop from saying what he"d been thinking. "Are you two totally nuts?"
"Shh," Sebastian hissed again, flashing a subtle look toward the bikers.
"I"m sorry," Jensen said quietly, but not keeping the irritation out of his voice. "But I don"t follow this line of thought at all. Why would they know her?"
The brothers looked at each other, then back to him.
"You are just going to have to trust us on this one. But we want to find Elizabeth as badly as you do."
"Then let"s go look for her, and stop wasting time with this ridiculous plan."
"All right," Christian said, keeping his voice low and calm.
Sebastian"s head snapped toward Christian. "You"re kidding, right? The ridiculous plan would be to just go out and search."
Jensen glared at Sebastian.
"Give me a few more minutes with these guys, and if I get nothing, we"ll come up with a new plan."
Jensen started to hesitate, finding no reason to waste any more time with this strategy. But arguing wouldn"t do any good. Plus, Christian had such a reasonable way of talking that it almost seemed silly to disagree with him. Almost.
But Jensen felt himself nodding.
Christian nodded in return, then headed down the bar to the bikers.
Jensen sat down again, staring at the beer in front of him. He almost wanted to take a drink, but he knew this wasn"t the time to start drinking. Elizabeth needed him clear and levelheaded.
Sebastian didn"t have the same thoughts. He sat back down and downed half of it.
"Can I get you anything?" Jensen heard Christian ask the bikers.
One of the men asked for another beer, the other two said they were fine. Christian strode away to get the order. When he returned, setting the beer in front of the men, he lingered.
"You know, I just have to ask, because we do have a regular here like you folks. Elizabeth is her name. You wouldn"t happen to know her, would you?" Again, Christian kept his tone casual as if the answer didn"t much matter to him. Certainly the bikers wouldn"t know the woman in question was someone as close to Christian as his sister.
The one with the moon tattoo shook his head, not even giving the idea a thought. "Nope. Never heard of her."
He clearly was not interested in small talk.
Jensen started to stand again, and again Sebastian caught his arm to get him to remain seated.
"He knows her."
Jensen frowned at Sebastian. "He said he didn"t."
"He"s lying."
Jensen"s frown deepened, but he remained on the bar stool.
"That"s right. She usually goes by Lizzie, actually," Christian added.
Sebastian chuckled quietly. "Oh, that got their attention."
Jensen watched the bikers, seeing nothing that indicated they were anything but bored with Christian"s comments.
"She actually hasn"t been here in a while-"
"You know," the one with the tattoos said suddenly. "I"m not really sure why you are talking to us."
Christian shrugged, still remaining calm. "Just that she was like you. You know."
"Well, we don"t know her." And for the first time, Jensen also seemed to sense they were lying. The brothers were right.
"Sorry to bother you," Christian said. "I just thought maybe-well, you never know. It is a small world, as they say."
The tattooed man reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a black wallet. He tossed down a fifty-more than enough to cover their bill. Then he stood, and the other two followed suit.
"We don"t know her," the man stated, then strode toward the exit, the other two close behind.
The brothers and Jensen watched them leave and as soon as the door slammed shut behind them, Christian stated, "I"m going to tell Jolee that we are leaving."
"I"ll ask Mina to help her with the bar."
Jensen frowned, not understanding anything that was going on-even though he did know they needed
to follow those men. But he accepted it. h.e.l.l, he hadn"t understood anything since they got here.
And at least they were doing something, even if it was just going on a wild-goose chase.
Chapter 24.
Within five minutes, they were loaded into Jensen"s truck and headed toward the mountains.
"How do you know they headed this way?" Jensen asked.
"I just know," Sebastian said, staring ahead as if he was somehow tracking them in his mind.
"You know," Jensen said slowly as he turned onto Route 219, "I don"t really get you guys, but since you
seem so definite, I"m trusting you."
"We"re your best bet at the moment," Christian told him.
Jensen pressed down on the accelerator and the truck picked up speed.
Throughout the night, Sebastian or Christian would tell Jensen where to turn until they were high up on
the narrow, twisting roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Jensen had stopped questioning them about their strange navigational skills. He somehow felt that they were on the right track, too. He couldn"t say why or how, but he felt as if they were getting closer to Elizabeth.
"Who would bring her up here?" Jensen asked after they turned onto yet another winding road.
"I"m not sure," Christian said.
"She hasn"t told us a lot about her past since we were reunited," Sebastian said, then winced as if he
realized he might have said too much.
"She told me that you were separated for years and just recently found each other again. I also got the
feeling her past wasn"t good."
The brothers nodded.
"Yeah," Christian said. "And she hasn"t told us a lot about what happened in those years. So I don"t
know who might want her back." Now it was Christian"s turn to look as if he"d said too much.
"Wanted her back?" Jensen found that wording curious, not to mention Christian"s expression. "Was she really with a biker gang or something?" "Or something," Sebastian said. "We really don"t know the details. Now, I wish I"d pressured her more to talk about it."
Jensen wished the same thing. But he never guessed someone would want to hurt her. Maybe he should have. He should have protected her and he failed. But he did have the feeling now that they were on the right track. They were getting closer.
"We are going to have to stop soon," Christian stated.
"What?" Jensen frowned quickly in his direction, then looked back to the narrow road.
"I know it doesn"t make much sense, but Sebastian and I have to get inside before the sun rises."
Again, Jensen cast a quick frown in their direction. "Why?"
"We can"t be out in the sun," Christian said. "Our skin can"t tolerate the sun"s rays."
"What? Like vampires?" Jensen said in disbelief.
"Yeah," Sebastian said with a slight smile. "Exactly like vampires."
Jensen glanced at them, sudden wariness filling him. They weren"t joking, were they? He thought of the